Gloden: We Cannot Avoid Talks With Afghanistan’s Current Authorities

August 27, 2026 Current News Articles

Hadia Ziaei

Tolo News

26 August 2026

Gloden said he had previously discussed the issue with German officials, who responded positively to a request for assistance in returning convicted Afghans.

Léon Gloden, Luxembourg’s Minister of Home Affairs, says his country cannot avoid talks with the Islamic Emirate over the return of Afghan nationals and is prepared to engage with them to facilitate the deportation of convicted individuals.

In an interview with a Luxembourg newspaper, Gloden said he had previously discussed the issue with German officials, who responded positively to a request for assistance in returning convicted Afghans.

Gloden told Luxemburger Wort: “We cannot afford not to speak with Syria or the Taliban. The Taliban are a regime that does not reflect the values we would wish for. But if we have a convicted violent offender here in Luxembourg who is an Afghan national, then we must be able to return him. And who can you speak to there? The Taliban are there.I also spoke with our German colleagues at the time and asked: If we have an Afghan offender here who has been convicted, would you be prepared to help us return him to Afghanistan? The answer was positive.”

Aziz Maarij, a former diplomat, said: “The Islamic Emirate should make use of these opportunities and develop a plan. It should accept the legitimate conditions of the international community, which are also the demands of the Afghan people, so that Afghanistan can integrate into the international community and expand its relations. This would contribute to Afghanistan’s progress and development in all areas.”

Several European countries largely suspended deportations of Afghans in 2021 but began limited deportations again in 2023. Efforts at the European Union level to establish mechanisms with the Islamic Emirate for the return and readmission of Afghans intensified in 2025.

Most recently, on June 23, 2026, a delegation from the Islamic Emirate met in Brussels with EU officials and representatives of 15 member states to discuss technical cooperation on the return and readmission of Afghan nationals.

Mohammad Jamal Muslim, a migrant rights activist, said: “Unfortunately, the expedient approach of some host countries has caused concern among thousands of people who are struggling to survive. If international organizations and the international community do not speak out about the current situation facing migrants and their forced deportations, which could even put their lives at risk under difficult circumstances, then no place on earth will be safe for migrants.”

Mohammad Khan Mohammadzai, another migrant rights activist, said: “Before deporting Afghan nationals, European countries should coordinate with Afghan authorities, conduct individual assessments, ensure the safety and human rights of migrants, and establish mechanisms to monitor their situation after return.”

On Tuesday, Germany also returned nearly 30 Afghan asylum seekers to Kabul on a charter flight.

Pakistan Says Ready for Government-Level Talks with Islamic Emirate

August 27, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

27 August 2026

Pentagon claims to have found ‘hidden’ files on final days of the Afghanistan war

August 27, 2026 Current News Articles

Politico

08/26/2026

Pentagon officials on Wednesday claimed they have uncovered classified documents that were “hidden away in safes where they would not be found” that shed new light on the chaotic end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan five years ago — but declined to offer public details of the revelations.

The claim comes hours before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to participate in a Pentagon ceremony to upgrade the valor awards for service members who served at the Kabul International Airport during the final days of the conflict.

The end of the war — and the final days of the U.S. occupation, when 13 American service members were killed guarding the airport — have been a focal point of Republican criticism of former President Joe Biden’s foreign policy decisions while in office.

GOP lawmakers have accused Biden of too abruptly ending military operations in Afghanistan, endangering American troops and handing over control of the country to the Taliban. Democratic supporters argue Biden’s move brought to an end two decades of open-ended military missions that did little to improve national security.

The White House has labeled the final days of the war “one of the most shameful and heartbreaking moments in our nation’s collective memory.” Pentagon leaders established a new Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel to examine the decisions leading up to the American exit from Kabul and determine who deserves blame for the U.S. deaths there.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, chair of the panel, in April announced plans to upgrade valor awards given to troops serving at the airport in August 2021 to “more accurately reflect the extreme risk” the troops faced, claiming that the Biden administration had “inappropriately downgraded” earlier honors.

Parnell on Wednesday released a video message on social media claiming the ongoing review has uncovered more improprieties by the previous administration, although he did not provide any details.

“The deeper we look, the more there is to look at,” he said in the message. “We are finding things that we did not expect.”.

He added that his team had “recovered highly relevant classified documents, material that should have been disclosed, stashed, and hidden away in safes where they would not be found. And after the team reviewed these documents, it became clear why someone tried to hide them.”

Parnell said that troops who served in Afghanistan “are owed the full picture of how and why those decisions were made, and we’re going to give it to them.” He did not provide any specifics on a timeline for clearer details on the new findings.

Democratic lawmakers have questioned the intentions of the reviews and criticized the slant of Republican-led hearings on Capitol Hill blaming the 20-year war largely on Democratic presidents.

House Republicans in recent years have accused Biden administration officials of ignoring intelligence reports in the days before the fatal terrorist bombing at the airport, a charge that military officials have rebuffed.

Germany Deports 30 Afghans to Kabul in Latest Charter Flight

August 25, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

August 25, 2026

Germany deported 30 Afghan nationals to Kabul on Tuesday aboard a charter flight from Leipzig, continuing its policy of returning Afghan citizens despite ongoing security and humanitarian concerns in Afghanistan.

The deportation flight departed from Leipzig/Halle Airport and marked Germany’s latest forced return operation to Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. German authorities said the operation primarily targeted Afghan nationals who had been ordered to leave the country, particularly those with criminal convictions or considered security threats.

However, German media reported that some of the deported Afghans did not have criminal records, raising renewed criticism from refugee advocates and human rights organizations over the government’s deportation policy.

According to official figures, Germany has now deported 257 Afghan nationals to Afghanistan since the Taliban regained control of the country. The returns have been carried out through charter flights despite Berlin’s continued position that Afghanistan remains a country with serious security and human rights risks.

The deportations are part of the German government’s tougher migration policy under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose administration has pledged stricter enforcement against failed asylum seekers and foreign nationals convicted of crimes. Berlin has argued that people who commit serious offenses can be returned even if broader deportations to Afghanistan remain limited.

Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned against forced returns to Afghanistan, citing widespread insecurity, economic collapse and severe restrictions on women and girls under Taliban rule. The United Nations has also described Afghanistan as one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people dependent on humanitarian assistance.

Girls’ Education Above Grade Six; An Issue That Remains Unresolved

August 25, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

26 Aug 2026

Aisha Wahab Calls for US Diplomatic Engagement with Afghanistan

August 25, 2026 Current News Articles

TOLOnews

TV Network

25 August 2026

In another part of her remarks, she also described groups opposed to the Islamic Emirate as unsuccessful.

Aisha Wahab, the first Afghan-American woman in the US House of Representatives, has emphasized the need for diplomatic engagement between Washington and Kabul.

In an interview with Democracy Now!, Wahab described the current situation in Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls, as discouraging and said that the United States should pursue diplomacy and maintain ties with Afghanistan regardless of which group is in power.

She said US engagement with Afghanistan could provide an opportunity to encourage the country’s current authorities to respect human rights, women’s rights, and civil rights.

Aisha Wahab, a member of the US House of Representatives, said: “It’s disappointing to see what is happening in Afghanistan, where they are blocking women and children from going to school, really living their lives. I think that that’s going to be a disaster to come for Afghanistan, let alone the fact that the United States needs to practice diplomacy and regardless of which group is in power, we should be exercising diplomacy and having a relationship.”

Wahab added that Afghanistan is a landlocked country with abundant natural resources and that the United States should engage with the country, at least to establish cooperation and conclude economic agreements.

In another part of her remarks, she also described groups opposed to the Islamic Emirate as unsuccessful.

Aisha Wahab added: “In my view, all these groups have failed badly and are on the wrong path because they are not doing what is right for the country; rather, they are pursuing what serves their own interests.”

Naser Shafiq, a university lecturer, said: “Given that Afghanistan’s current territory is under the control of the Islamic Emirate, in order to bridge the gap with the people, the four issues over which the international community has raised concerns about Afghanistan need to be addressed. Political diversity, girls’ education, and women’s employment also need to be considered.”

The United States suspended its diplomatic ties with Kabul after its last soldier left Afghanistan on August 31 and also froze Afghanistan’s foreign reserves.

However, the two sides have maintained limited engagement on some issues, including countering security threats and securing the release of US citizens.

New book details NY Times’ efforts to evacuate Afghan refugees

August 25, 2026 Current News Articles

Sara Fischer

AXIOS

25 August 2026

A new book from journalists Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp provides crucial details about how The New York Times evacuated hundreds of Afghan nationals as the country fell to Taliban rule in 2021.

Why it matters: The account serves as a reminder of the risks many people take to support pivotal journalism, not just the journalists themselves.

Zoom in: “The Last Free Women,” which debuts publicly next month on the heels of the five-year anniversary of the fall of Afghanistan, explains how The Times’ management and reporters were able to help identify and ultimately relocate more than 200 people fleeing the conflict, 124 of whom ended up in the U.S.

It explains the quick decision-making process by publisher A.G. Sulzberger, newsroom lawyer David McCraw, then-executive editor Dean Baquet, and others to not only evacuate journalists, but anyone who supported them on the ground.
“When you have a bureau like that, you have drivers who for years had taken our reporters around the country, translators, cooks … really anyone who took care of the bureau for over 20 years,” Blumenstein told Axios in an interview.
“They had a lot to fear because they knew that they were associated with the New York Times, and that with a Taliban takeover, they could be hunted down.”

Between the lines: Blumenstein — who at the time was The Times’ deputy managing editor — became a critical part of the paper’s efforts to help support those the paper evacuated when they arrived in the U.S.

Her book follows the lives of four young Afghan women integrating themselves into American society while mourning the lives they left behind.
She recalls moments when those refugees learned how to swim, applied for college and got their first jobs. She and other Times leaders remained involved in their lives to support their transition.
“The Afghan refugees didn’t ask to come here. They didn’t plan to come here. They they they were thrust into a situation, very suddenly, and are and are very grateful to to be here. But it’s been an intense situation, and for many of them, there’s a a fair amount of guilt too.”

Data: Reporters Without Borders (RSF); Note: NOTE: The data reflects journalists receiving support from Reporters Without Borders (RSF); Chart: Sara Fischer/Axios

Zoom out: The number of countries from which journalists receiving support from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) fled more than doubled in the five years following the fall of Afghanistan, from 19 in 2021 to 40 in 2025, according to RSF data.

Of those that fled in that time period, 677 were Afghan journalists, 160 were Russian journalists and 101 were Burmese journalists. Hundreds more came from roughly 60 different countries.

The big picture: Few news organizations have the resources to save people who assisted their sources and news-gathering efforts in a pinch.

But Blumenstein — who is now NBC News’ president of editorial — acknowledged that many outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, AP, Reuters, and others, did whatever they could to evacuate people when the country fell.

The bottom line: “This sort of work is not for the faint of heart,” she said.

Floggings on the rise in Afghanistan, human rights group says

August 25, 2026 Current News Articles

DPA

Tue, August 25, 2026

FILE PHOTO - Taliban fighters ride on an armoured vehicle at a checkpoint near Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (is associated with: «Floggings on the rise in Afghanistan, human rights group says») Sami Jan/dpa — FILE PHOTO – Taliban fighters ride on an armoured vehicle at a checkpoint near Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (is associated with: «Floggings on the rise in Afghanistan, human rights group says») Sami Jan/dpa

Flogging is increasingly being used as a form of punishment in Afghanistan five years after the Islamist Taliban regained power, according to a report by the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO).

In the report published on Tuesday, AHRDO said 593 cases of flogging had been documented in 2024. This number rose to 1,074 people in 2025, the Canada-based organization said.

In the current year, the human rights organization said it had already documented 553 floggings by April.

The Taliban has defended this form of punishment, saying it is in line with the country’s law and necessary to ensure security and safety for the public.

In most of the cases documented between February 2022 and April 2026, the floggings were imposed for extramarital relationships, alleged sexual offences and homosexuality. In many provinces, the victims were flogged at sports grounds and in public places.

According to the report, the punishment has also been carried out in prisons. The survey is based on publications by the Supreme Court of Afghanistan and publicly available data.

A report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from late July said the Taliban authorities have not issued any announcements of public floggings since mid-April this year. Nevertheless, it said 137 people were flogged between April 1 and June 30.

As early as March, the UN Human Rights Office expressed concern about an increase in floggings in Afghanistan.

AHRDO says public flogging violates fundamental rights and contravenes the prohibition on torture. The Taliban recaptured the Afghan capital, Kabul, in August 2021 and have since been governing under strict, religiously motivated regulations.

One million children in Afghanistan face deadly malnutrition

August 25, 2026 Current News Articles

UN News

25 August 2026

Some 3.7 million children in Afghanistan are suffering from wasting, one of the most dangerous forms of malnutrition, with around one million currently battling the most severe, life-threatening form of the condition.

A young girl in Afghanistan holds a fortified biscuit while other children sit around her with blue backpacks.

Malnutrition, driven by the lack of access to adequate food, compromises immune systems and makes children far more vulnerable to common infections.

The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said on Tuesday that children under two currently account for 83 per cent of severe acute malnutrition cases.

Hospitals overwhelmed

Hospitals are overwhelmed by increasing demand, UNICEF has warned.

In parts of southern Afghanistan, hospitals are seeing three to four severely malnourished children for every available bed.

Severe acute malnutrition cases which were admitted with medical complications have risen by one-third from the same time last year – from 6,000 in July 2025 to 8,000 by July 2026.

Overlapping crises

Afghanistan has endured successive years of drought, followed by destructive heavy rainfall and flash floods. This year’s record-strength El Niño climate pattern is expected to intensify the extreme weather.

At the same time, regional instability is disrupting cross-border trade and the return to the country of over six million people since 2023 is putting pressure on the overstretched job market and public services, including housing and health services.

UNICEF said that these pressures mean families are unable to feed their children properly; meals have become smaller, scarcer, and less nutritiously varied.

A child’s first food at six months old may consist of little more than bread with tea or watered-down yoghurt, the agency said in a recent report.

Providing care

Treatment for malnutrition does exist.

Tajudeen Oyewale, the UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan tells the story of Sagida, a 9-month-old girl he met in a hospital in eastern Afghanistan.

She came from a remote village in a neighbouring province that had recently suffered from severe floods. A UNICEF-trained health worker found her there, suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and referred her to the hospital.

“When Sagida was first admitted, the doctors had little hope that she would survive. She weighed only 4 kg. But after receiving therapeutic milk, she has now stabilised,” Mr. Oyewale explained.

Cost-effective funding

Due to funding cuts to humanitarian aid, more than 100 sites treating children with severe wasting have closed this year compared with 2025, putting additional strain on the centres that have stayed open, UNICEF said.

The agency’s nutrition programme has received only 22 per cent of the $180 million funding it requires this year.

“We should not wait until a child is dangerously thin and lying in a hospital bed before we intervene. […] Acting early does not only save lives. It is also far more cost-effective than waiting until a child is severely malnourished and needs life-saving treatment,” said Mr. Oyewale.

US set for largest mass visa revocation in history targeting up to 200,000 foreigners, officials say

August 24, 2026 Current News Articles

Story by Matthew Lee

The Los Angeles Times

Aug 24, 2026

The Trump administration is preparing to revoke the business and tourism visas of up to 200,000 foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum status in the United States. If it happens, the move would be the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history and would likely face legal challenges.

Unless challenged or revised, the State Department is expected to announce in the coming weeks the revocation of so-called B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026 whose holders have sought asylum or are now seeking asylum, according to State Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and two U.S. officials. The action will be taken in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.

“We are coordinating with DHS to identify and revoke the nonimmigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently,” said State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

He declined to comment on the number of visas that might be revoked, saying “as the process will be ongoing, the number of revocations remains dynamic and will be done on a rolling basis.”

The revocations would not necessarily result in their immediate deportation, the officials said. Most of those with asylum cases currently pending would be recategorized but would lose their status as business or tourism travelers, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the revocations are not final yet.

Since President Donald Trump took office for his second term last year, his administration has steadily ramped up restrictions on visa applicants — demanding more information about their social media histories, requiring the posting of expensive bonds for the processing of visas, and outright banning the issuance of visas to citizens of certain countries.

In a social media post on Monday, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau called out people who he said try to use tourist and business visas to get into the United States and then apply for asylum.

“People in the US and all over the world are fed up with bogus asylum claims,” Landau wrote on X. “Asylum isn’t supposed to be a loophole to circumvent immigration law.” Landau cited the case of a Colombian citizen who came to the U.S. in 2015 on a tourist visa and then applied for asylum.

B1 visas are generally issued for business trips and B2 visas are generally issued for tourism, family visits or medical care. It was not immediately clear from the documents or the officials how many of these visa holders are seeking or have sought asylum in the United States and would be affected by the revocations.

Current applicants for B1 and B2 visas are asked to affirm that they will not apply for asylum in the United States and prove that they intend to return to their home countries.

In the past 18 months, the State Department has revoked about 175,000 visas for people who have been convicted or accused of crimes ranging from drunken driving to rape and robbery, as well as for people who have spoken out publicly against U.S. policies, particularly in the Middle East.

The administration has also moved to crack down on so-called birth tourism, a practice the administration claims is used by foreign pregnant women to come to the United States to give birth so that their child will benefit from birthright citizenship. Trump has tried several times to end birthright citizenship, but those challenges have been rejected by courts, including the Supreme Court.

The State Department documents obtained by the AP suggest screening of current B1 and B2 visa holders began after the State Department received information about asylum requests from the Citizen and Immigration Service.

Lee writes for the Associated Press.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Hospitals overwhelmed

Overlapping crises

Providing care

Cost-effective funding

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